It seems clear, given the events of this month, that the Republican Party needs to leave Donald Trump in the rearview mirror. Clear to everyone, it seems, except Republican officeholders.
Sen. Rand Paul said that voting to convict Trump would destroy the GOP. Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “This idea of moving forward without Donald Trump in the Republican Party is a disaster for the Republican Party.”
Republicans seem willing to allow Trump to continue to hold the party hostage, but their argument is lacking. Graham’s notion that the Republican Party can’t win without Trump leading it is nonsense. The GOP won just about everything except the White House between 2010 and 2014, letting Trump take office with Republicans in control of the House and Senate.
For his part, Trump consistently underperformed. He underperformed all but three GOP Senate candidates when he was elected in 2016. He underperformed most incumbent GOP senators in crucial swing states in 2020, whether they won (Maine, North Carolina, and Texas) or lost (Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and even New Mexico). On Election Day, he even underperformed former Sen. David Perdue in Georgia.
And it’s Georgia that shows Trump’s lack of loyalty. After losing the presidential race to Biden, Trump could have helped push Perdue and former Sen. Kelly Loeffler over the top to preserve the GOP’s Senate majority. This would be a pretty basic thing to do for someone Graham claims is the “strongest voice in the party.” But Trump’s two-month temper tantrum saw him attack Georgia Republicans more than Perdue and Loeffler’s opponents. They both lost, to Trump’s delight.
The president was telling people today that he was happy Loeffler and Perdue lost, according to a person familiar with the conversations. He said they didn’t defend him enough.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 7, 2021
Electorally, Trump was already toxic. He beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 because she was similarly toxic. He couldn’t beat a bumbling generic Democrat in Joe Biden, who hardly campaigned and was the very personification of “the swamp” that Trump had promised to drain. He was a net drag in most battleground states.
After his reckless conspiracy-theorizing about the election led to a mob of his supporters storming the Capitol. Trump’s already underwater approval rating has sunk even lower. Republicans like Paul and Graham are trying to declare the party’s loyalty to a man who has repeatedly shown he has no loyalty to the party. He’s even floated the idea of starting a new party entirely.
There is no guarantee that Trump won’t try to destroy the party even if the Senate doesn’t convict him. Even if the GOP pledges its fealty to him once again, he remains a negative force in elections.
Any Republican can pursue the same policies Trump did in office. The GOP should not tie itself to one man’s ego once again, especially under the illusion that he controls the party’s electoral fate.
